More jobs for Houston/600,000 new jobs

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

I can think of some things to do with this money that would be good for the city, how about you?

Greater Houston Partnership halfway to fundraising goal

The Greater Houston Partnership has raised more than $20 million for Opportunity Houston, a planned $40 million campaign that will support the GHP's strategic plan to contribute to the creation of 600,000 new jobs, $60 billion in capital investment and $225 billion in foreign trade for the Houston region. "We're excited to be halfway there. Never before have we seen such a fast-moving, collective and collaborative effort than with Opportunity Houston," said GHP President and CEO Jeff Moseley.

Through economic development organizations and local businesses, each..........

Full Story here http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/sto...tml?jst=b_ln_hl

[Subdude]

From the article

Chaired by Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, Opportunity Houston targets the aviation and aerospace, energy and petrochemical, medical and biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology industries. All are among the economic sectors identified by the partnership's strategic plan as critical to the region's future prosperity.

Nice idea, but it is a bit naive to think that we can advertise our way to be leaders in nanotechnology, for instance. One of the criticisms of the idea originally was that, apart from medical and energy, it seems like they just came up with a checklist of glamorous or trendy industries. How would they seriously plan to build up an aviation industry in Houston?

[lockmat]

From the article

Nice idea, but it is a bit naive to think that we can advertise our way to be leaders in nanotechnology, for instance. One of the criticisms of the idea originally was that, apart from medical and energy, it seems like they just came up with a checklist of glamorous or trendy industries. How would they seriously plan to build up an aviation industry in Houston?

I just believe it's a vision. Drayton and other people who are involved in this didn't get to where they are by not being creative and having goals most people thought were unattainalbe. (Maybe I'm wrong, did Drayton inherit anything?) Vision and goals are important. If they want the city to excell, they have to see things that we necessarily can't. I don't know about you, but I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. We read a headline and a few sentences and come to conclusions while they're the ones getting their hands dirty and thinking these things through day after day. I'm not saying we don't think things through, but they're in it, ya know?

I read pretty much their whole plan the other day too. They didn't flippantly choose the industries they chose. They researched and evaluated and then came to their decisions.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

Dont know about nantech. but my understanding of the aviation industry is 2 prong. First they would like to increase the number of charter jet companies that operate here and the number of support companies for those jets and others. The other prong is to actively seek more international service to and from IAH by foreign flag passenger and cargo carriers. They are well on the way with both ;)

In recent years the number of private charters here have soared upwardly and they wish to build on that.

I will try to post more of that from other articles i have read in the past. Pretty interesting stuff if you like aviation ;)

[Houston19514]

From the article

How would they seriously plan to build up an aviation industry in Houston?

Well, with the world's 5th largest airline headquartered here, that seems like a pretty good foundation from which to start, not to mention the 15th busiest airport in the world (7th busiest in America).

[TheNiche]

Well, with the world's 5th largest airline headquartered here, that seems like a pretty good foundation from which to start, not to mention the 15th busiest airport in the world (7th busiest in America).

Not to mention NASA...

[Houston19514]

From the article

Nice idea, but it is a bit naive to think that we can advertise our way to be leaders in nanotechnology, for instance. One of the criticisms of the idea originally was that, apart from medical and energy, it seems like they just came up with a checklist of glamorous or trendy industries. How would they seriously plan to build up an aviation industry in Houston?

After further reflection, it's hard to see what you're complaint is based on. A checklist of glamorous or trendy industries???? It looks more like a checklist of industries in which Houston has either a solid foundation of jobs or at least a very solid foundation of research and development, either of which makes them obvious choices for job/economic development activity.

Here's the list:

Aviation: Continental Airlines; Express Jet; 15th busiest airport in the world; 7th busiest airport in America; 7th or 8th busiest international gateway in America.

Aerospace: NASA

Energy and petrochemical: of course this list would be a mile long

Medical and biotechnology: Obviously, the Texas Medical Center; Rice University; University of Houston;

Information Technology: Hewlett-Packard, plus a lot of IT concentration with all of the Fortune 500 HQ;

Nanotechnology: Rice University and I believe UH are leaders in Nanotech. Plus, of course Texas Medical Center.

It is hard to imagine a more logical group of industries for Houston to concentrate on. If they happen to be glamorous or trendy, so be it.

And by the way, there has been no suggestion by anyone that Houston can simply "advertise" its way to Nanotechnology leadership or leadership in any other industry. This is exemplified by the fact that they chose industries in which Houston indeed already has a solid base.

[Subdude]

But I didn't think Rice or UH were considered leaders in nanotechnology. HP manufacturing facilities don't make for an information technology industry. Look, I'm all for building up the city. I'm just sceptical that this will have any real impact. Aviation, per Houston 1st Word..'s description makes sense, since it seems achievable to have more foreign carriers from IAH, although I would classify it as transportation, not aviation.

[lockmat]

From the FAQ section:

When will the campaign for Opportunity Houston end?

The goal is to have all investments confirmed by April 1, 2007.

That day has done passed by. According to their graphic, they're only at 28.5 million. 40 mil is their goal. I guess getting there late is better than never.

I also wonder how close they have come to attaining their goals. I guess we added a ton of jobs last year.

[jgriff]

But I didn't think Rice or UH were considered leaders in nanotechnology. HP manufacturing facilities don't make for an information technology industry. Look, I'm all for building up the city. I'm just sceptical that this will have any real impact. Aviation, per Houston 1st Word..'s description makes sense, since it seems achievable to have more foreign carriers from IAH, although I would classify it as transportation, not aviation.

Actually Rice University could easily claim to be the leading nanotech research center in the U.S.

Rice nanotech center

They're in the national news quite often for making major discoveries.

[Houston19514]

Actually Rice University could easily claim to be the leading nanotech research center in the U.S.

Rice nanotech center

They're in the national news quite often for making major discoveries.

Yes, and FWIW, contrary to Subdude's statement, I'm pretty sure HP has much more than just manufacturing going on in Houston. And for that matter, to suggest that HP is Houston's only entry in the IT industry is to betray ignorance of the Houston economy. BMC, Landmark Graphics, EVERY major oil company... have huge IT components.

[TheNiche]

Yes, and FWIW, contrary to Subdude's statement, I'm pretty sure HP has much more than just manufacturing going on in Houston. And for that matter, to suggest that HP is Houston's only entry in the IT industry is to betray ignorance of the Houston economy. BMC, Landmark Graphics, EVERY major oil company... have huge IT components.

Yeah, Houston has a sizable software industry, but since it is mostly B2B-oriented, rather than consumer-oriented, it is kind of hard for the layperson to really take note of it.

[Trae]

I didn't know that about Houston's IT Industry. How does it compare to Dallas/Richardson/Plano's?

[lockmat]

Didn't think it really warranted its own thread since it's not even a done deal yet.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/hig...2.html?ana=e_ph

"Pearland is the only remaining Texas location in contention for a new Dow Chemical Co. joint venture that will bring 1,000 high-paying jobs to the United States. "

-----

Also, in Tory's latest entry, he says Texas accounted for almost a third of the nations job growth.

[editor]

Didn't think it really warranted its own thread since it's not even a done deal yet.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/hig...2.html?ana=e_ph

"Pearland is the only remaining Texas location in contention for a new Dow Chemical Co. joint venture that will bring 1,000 high-paying jobs to the United States. "

-----

Also, in Tory's latest entry, he says Texas accounted for almost a third of the nations job growth.

1,000 down. 599,000 to go!

[TheNiche]

Didn't think it really warranted its own thread since it's not even a done deal yet.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/hig...2.html?ana=e_ph

"Pearland is the only remaining Texas location in contention for a new Dow Chemical Co. joint venture that will bring 1,000 high-paying jobs to the United States. "

1,000 jobs in 100,000 square feet of office space. That's gonna be a tight fit. I'd say that 180,000 ought to be their minimum office footprint, and only then with office hotelling for the part-timers.

[dalparadise]

Back to the aviation growth -- we do all understand that growth in this sector is not necessarily for some kind of bragging rights, in and of itself, right? Aviation is a catalyst for all other areas to grow. By increasing our international presence, we further open our market to talent and trade around the globe. By increasing charter services, we make Houston less of an island to other industries around the country. Headquarters here could service executives located around the country who telecommute or jet-commute when warranted. Coca-Cola used to be set up like this, only in reverse. The Sr. VP of marketing lived here and commuted by charter jet every week to Atlanta. Pretty cool set-up.

Anyone who fails to see the serious boost a big aviation focus can have on a city's competitive edge in business doesn't have a firm grasp of Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix. These cities owe their prominence to their aviation infrastructure more than any others I can think of.

[N Judah]

When they said aviation, I thought they meant Airbus/Boeing/Lockheed Martin and stuff like that.

[Trae]

Didn't think it really warranted its own thread since it's not even a done deal yet.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/hig...2.html?ana=e_ph

"Pearland is the only remaining Texas location in contention for a new Dow Chemical Co. joint venture that will bring 1,000 high-paying jobs to the United States. "

-----

Also, in Tory's latest entry, he says Texas accounted for almost a third of the nations job growth.

Nice. Pearland is in a great location (since Dow has some offices, etc. down in Freeport). I do remember seeing some kind of business park proposal in Pearland. Don't know how far along it is.

[wernicke]

Nice. Pearland is in a great location (since Dow has some offices, etc. down in Freeport). I do remember seeing some kind of business park proposal in Pearland. Don't know how far along it is.

I'm not exactly sure what this Dow venture entails, but does Houston really need more chemical plants polluting the air, seeing as how Harris County currently is by far No. 1 in the country in benzene levels? The UT Public Health school has been investigating to see if these levels have caused an increase in our area's incidence of lymphoma/leukemia...

http://publicaffairs.uth.tmc.edu/media/new...hipchannel.html

I'm all for development/growth of Houston, but petro-chemical development in our already-polluted city is not without its risks.

[TheNiche]

I'm all for development/growth of Houston, but petro-chemical development in our already-polluted city is not without its risks.

This one is all office users. No chemical plants.

All the same, I'd beg to differ if there were a chemical plant component. Any new plants would likely not be located in proximity to very many residences and would generate many hundreds of jobs.

[Jax]

But I didn't think Rice or UH were considered leaders in nanotechnology

I don't know about UH, but Rice definitely publishes more journal articles on carbon nanotubes than most if not all other universities, and Rice had two Nobel Prize winners who did a lot of the preliminary work on carbon nanostructures in the 90s. So Rice would be the primary reason in my opinion that Houston could become a leader in nanotech. I believe that was part of Richard Smalley's vision before he died. And Smalley was talking more about nanotech in the energy industry, I believe. The implications for nanotech in the biomedical field are huge as well, which Houston is perfectly set up for.

Here's a link to one Houston based nanotech company with links to the TMC and Rice.

http://www.nanospectra.com/

[ricco67]

I always thought that UH was the leader in superconductor research as they did a major advertisement of this about 10 years ago followed by local news reports about it.

[Trae]

I'm not exactly sure what this Dow venture entails, but does Houston really need more chemical plants polluting the air, seeing as how Harris County currently is by far No. 1 in the country in benzene levels? The UT Public Health school has been investigating to see if these levels have caused an increase in our area's incidence of lymphoma/leukemia...

http://publicaffairs.uth.tmc.edu/media/new...hipchannel.html

I'm all for development/growth of Houston, but petro-chemical development in our already-polluted city is not without its risks.

No where in the article does it say more chemical plants. I read that it would be over 1,000 new office jobs and Dow is searching for a tower to relocate in. It would add another Fortune 500 company to the Houston area.

[lockmat]

It said they were high paying jobs.

[dalparadise]

(since Dow has some offices, etc. down in Freeport).

Some offices, etc...Dow is the primary tenant and reason for being for one of the largest deep water ports in the country at Port Freeport. Port Freeport is the reason there's Highway 288. Highway 288 is the reason Pearland has grown so quickly.

It's funny -- because Port Freeport is only the second largest port in the Houston area, it's virtually unknown and overlooked. It is, however a huge economic engine for the area and a great importer and exporter, primarily to South America. They are, by no means a petrochem-only port, either. Something on the order of 60% of the country's bananas come through there. They export rice to countries on both sides of the southern Atlantic, They have thousands of acres of open land available for warehousing and corporate relocations. Plus, they operate a busy foreign trade zone for international tariff considerations. Best of all, unlike just about every other port on the Gulf, a ship can be cruising in deep water 90 minutes after leaving the docks there. Easy in -- easy out.

We get very excited about speculations involving new jobs or relocations and sometimes ignore the amazing assets we have right under our noses.

[ricco67]

Agreed, but because some many things are happening around the region it is truly hard to keep track of everything. It is for this reason that everyone's contribution to the vast knowledge on HAIF is very important for the collective knowledge. Every bit of additional knowledge is party of a great economic and community picture of what we have here.

[lockmat]

Sorry to bring this topic up again but Tory's new post got me searching and thinking about it again.

Opportunity Houston's strategy...

One way they think they could spend the raised money is on a GIS system, which they say is, "an advanced technology that can capture data according to location and link prospects with specific sites throughout the 10-county region that best meet their requirements."

Can someone elaborate why a GIS system is so important and what the city or business could do with it? Of course it's something good, but one of their primary targets?

Why?

Thanks

[TheNiche]

Sorry to bring this topic up again but Tory's new post got me searching and thinking about it again.

Opportunity Houston's strategy...

One way they think they could spend the raised money is on a GIS system, which they say is, "an advanced technology that can capture data according to location and link prospects with specific sites throughout the 10-county region that best meet their requirements."

Can someone elaborate why a GIS system is so important and what the city or business could do with it? Of course it's something good, but one of their primary targets?

Why?

Thanks

I used to deal with this stuff in a highly creative way on a regular basis. You'd think that it'd make me more employable, but apparently not in this job market. GIS is important to entrepreneurs who need to identify where economic activities are occurring that are conducive to their business model. For instance, firms that specialize in oil & gas E&P that are interested in leasing new office space probably want to know where their competitors are so that they can be nearby and tap the labor pool. And clearly developers want to know where all kinds of people work, by industry, and broken down by demographics, so that they can most effectively target populations that they expect will demand certain types of housing. The specific usefulness varies tremendously, but you get the idea.